The Wisconsin Democrat’s decision to step down after 20 terms puts a once-safe seat into play and forces Democrats to defend yet another blue-collar, conservative-minded district — the kind that is ripe for a Republican pickup in the current election environment.

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Without Obey, the powerful House Appropriations Committee chairman who boasted a $1.4 million war chest, on the ballot, Democrats are likely to find themselves in a dogfight for a northern Wisconsin-area seat that typically only narrowly favors Democrats in presidential elections.

Obey regularly dispatched challengers with more than 60 percent of the vote.

“There will be a race,” said former Wisconsin Gov. Tony Earl, a Democrat. “The district is not a solidly Democratic district.”

Obey’s record as a skilled appropriator helped him lock down the district long ago, despite the heavy contingent of gun-owning, pro-life voters who aren’t always in sync with the Democratic leadership’s agenda. But as voters blanched at growing deficits and worried about an expansion of the federal government, Obey figured to be facing one of the toughest challenges of his political career.

“It was definitely going to be competitive, we knew from the beginning,” Marathon County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Moran said. “He’s won pretty convincingly for 40 years, but the mood in the nation is different than it has been in the past. We were prepared for it to be a challenging race.”

“This was a race that you would have rated ‘Democratic favored,’” Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political scientist, said. “Now, I don’t see how you could rate it as anything other than a tossup.”

Obey’s retirement comes only one month before the signature-gathering process to qualify for the primary ballot begins. Prospective candidates must collect from 1,000 to 2,000 by July 13 to earn a place on the Sept, 14 primary ballot.

A host of local officeholders have been mentioned as potential candidates, including state Sen. Pat Kreitlow, state Sen. Julie Lassa, state Rep. Donna Seidel, attorney Christine Bremer, Judge Greg Huber, and Obey district director Doug Hill. Also mentioned are state Sen. Russ Decker, state Sen. Jim Holperin, and state Reps. Ann Hraychuck and Amy Sue Vruwink.

Republican Sean Duffy, an Ashland County District Attorney and former star of MTV’s “The Real World,” has spent the past year campaigning throughout the district.

A Democratic operative close to Obey said the congressman told him Wednesday that he wants to avoid a contested primary to succeed him, but there’s a great deal of interest in the race among local officeholders.

Throughout his career, Obey paid close attention to local Wisconsin politics, helping elect his friends and allies to seats in the Legislature or to local city councils.

“This was a grass-roots politician who always thought about the next redistricting, getting stuff done at home, having the down-ballot folks be friends of his,” the operative said.

Burnett County Democratic Party Chairman Robert Maki said his organization would be meeting Thursday morning to begin the process of finding a candidate.